neilhart's Scratch Build Case # 2

[chaosdesigns]

I'm jealous! Fantastic scratch build!

chaos

 

[neilhart]

A very small update to share.

I reprinted the touch switch icon using photo grade ink jet paper and shot a coat of flat black paint on the switch. And with the reassembly the general appearance is more pleasing (at least to me).
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And I ordered up a 6 foot HDMI to DVI cable and thus eliminating the HDMI/DVI adapter that I had been using with a kludged up HDMI cable to HDMI switch to DVI cable. All of this because of the HDMI and DP ports being adjacent to each other. And the source of the cable used is Monoprice.com for about $ 5 US as compared to $ 15 to 20 US from our normal suppliers.

good hacking,
neil

 

[neilhart]

Follow up.

I gave this computer to my son yesterday along with the Apple wireless keyboard and track pad. His wife does not like fan noise in their main room. I have not heard if shes is happy with this one.

And I asked him to not return the mid-sized tower hack that it replaces... I am out of space.

neil

 

[hAYAA]

I had thought at the same build. I am thinking to a case like this...

 

[neilhart]

I had thought at the same build. I am thinking to a case like this...

Hey go for it! This MB presents all sorts of opportunities and is generally very easy to work with in OS X. There is no scale on your attachment and it appears to be "very" slim. What would/will you use for a CPU cooler?

Keep us posted by starting a new thread for your project.

neil

 

[cornishboy]

Hi,

I have a question about the cpu cooler...

You look like you are using a Noctua NH-L9i which seems to just fit into you mini itx board.

I was looking to fit one to my gigabyte (GA-B75N) mini itx motherboard.

However when I look at the existing I3 cpu and it's stock cooler it occupies about 92mm square,
and it rises up/slopes above the surface of the motherboard to a height of around 10mm.

Very close to it there are bunch of capacitors that are maybe 9mm tall, which it just manages to miss.

Your motherboard looks to be very similar, but you managed to fit the Noctua.

I was going to order one, but the frosty tech review ( http://frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2730&page=2 )
states that the fins are "elevated 7mm above the motherboard"
which means as far as I can see they wouldn't actually fit about the electronics on my motherboard...

So I was wondering if that 7mm they quote is an error,
(do they mean 7mm above the cpu surface, making a total of maybe 10mm?)
or there is something about your motherboard/build that I am missing,
that allowed you to fit the Noctua into the motherboard in amongst the upstanding capacitors etc...

From the picture the capacitors on your motherboard look like they would have ended up under the cooler fins,
and they also look similar in height to the ones on my motherboard, but of course it's difficult to tell from 2D photos...

Any help would be appreciated...

Thanks

Niq

 

[neilhart]

Hi, ... delete ...

Any help would be appreciated...

Thanks

Niq

I think that the Noctua NH-L9i will fit. You could ask Noctua support.

Here is the US, I would purchase from a retailer that has a friendly return policy and return the part if it did not fit or perform as expected.

Sorry I am not much help on this one.

Good modding,
neil

 

[cornishboy]

Thanks for your help...

When blundering round the Noctua site I did eventually find a thing that says
"the feet of the cooler will be up to 3mm above the motherboard when correctly fastened in place"
(http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=faqs&step=2&products_id=50&lng=en#5)

Which to my mind, along with the 7mm (quoted by Frosty between the feet and the heat sink), makes up the requisite 10mm needed to clear the electronics...

I have also eel-mailed Noctua to ask if the board is compatible, as it doesn't currently show on their compatible boards list...

Thanks again

Niq

 

[neilhart]

Thanks for your help...

When blundering round the Noctua site I did eventually find a thing that says
"the feet of the cooler will be up to 3mm above the motherboard when correctly fastened in place"
(http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=faqs&step=2&products_id=50&lng=en#5)

Which to my mind, along with the 7mm (quoted by Frosty between the feet and the heat sink), makes up the requisite 10mm needed to clear the electronics...

I have also eel-mailed Noctua to ask if the board is compatible, as it doesn't currently show on their compatible boards list...

Thanks again

Niq

Have you seen the low profile cooler pages? Check out this link: http://www.tonymacx86.com/hardware-parts/103860-low-profile-cpu-coolers.html

Good modding,
neil